Jones encouraged on progress; Mankins less certain

FOXBORO — The people who work on Wall Street depend on financial indicators to guide them on how to invest their money.

By PAUL KENYON

FOXBORO — The people who work on Wall Street depend on financial indicators to guide them on how to invest their money. The people who follow the Patriots have different kinds of indicators.

If what happened Saturday turns out to be an accurate indicator, the Patriots will enter their big game against Houston on Monday night healthier than they have been since early in the season.

Only one player, tight end Rob Gronkowski, did not take part in practice, meaning he is almost certain to be on the sidelines when the 11-1 Texans come to town. However, two key players who have missed recent games, guard Logan Mankins and defensive end Chandler Jones, both spoke with reporters and discussed their health after Saturday’s practice. Jones gave every indication that he would return, while Mankins was unsure.

The conversations were a bit unusual.

As Pats fan know, the team prefers not to provide information about injured players. It is rare that a guy who is not likely to play meets with reporters and discusses his situation. If a guy talks, it normally means he will probably play.

Jones gave strong hints that he would return from an ankle injury that forced him to miss the last two games. Maybe because he is still a rookie and still learning the system, he was quite straightforward.

“I’m ready to play against the Texans,” the Syracuse grad said.

Then he caught himself.

“It’s a coach’s decision. Whatever he says, that’s what we’re going to do. … It’s never up to me,” Jones said. “The biggest thing is I’m taking it day-to-day. Each and every day I just try to get better so I can get out there and play.”

While he could not play, Jones spent his time studying.

“A lot of self-scouting, hand placement, playing against the run, playing against the pass. Yeah, definitely, I had two weeks off. That’s a lot of time actually to scout yourself and correct some mistakes.”

Mankins was more low-key, perhaps because he was less certain of being able to play. Still, the fact that he spent time answering questions about the ankle, calf and hip injuries that have forced him to miss six games this season was different.

“Not too bad,” he responded when asked how he was feeling. “I got out there a little bit this week and tried to move around. We’ll see where it goes from today.

“I don’t know yet,” he said of playing Monday night. “I’m still limited, just trying to do as much as I can. I can’t do everything yet, so we might find out Monday. I don’t know.”

Mankins, who played through a torn ACL all last season and waited until February to have surgery, said this simply has not been a good year as one problem has piled on top of another.

“It’s just one of those years — I can’t get untracked,” he said. “Some injuries you can play through; some restrict your ability to play. When it restricts your ability, you can’t play. You’re just going to hurt the team if you get beat all the time.”

His latest injury, to his ankle, came when someone rolled up on him from behind in the Jets game.

“That’s happened a few times this year,” he said. “It’s just one of those things. You know something has happened. You just hope it’s not too bad, [that] it doesn’t keep you out too long.”

If there is any consolation for Mankins, it is that UConn grad Donald Thomas has stepped into his place and played well.

“Donald’s done a great job. We knew he would,” Mankins said. “He’s taken a lot of reps, played a lot of games now. He’s done a very good job.”

Houston takes a different approach to discussion on the health of its players. No indicators are needed. Almost every day for the last week the first question for coach Gary Kubiak in his news conferences has been about injuries. Kubiak responds by providing a summary, as he did on Saturday.

“Health-wise, (offensive tackle Derek) Newton and (OLB) Brooks (Reed) did not practice today; they’ll both be listed as out,” Kubiak began. “So other than that, we’ve got game-time decisions with all those guys that went through practice fine. Y’all can ask me about each one, but J-Joe (CB Jonathan Joseph) should be fine to go. (ILB) Bradie (James) should be fine to go. (TE) Garrett (Graham) still has one more passing of the test for concussion protocol, so we have until Monday for that.”

Cornerback Alan Ball is among those whose fate will probably be decided just before the game.

“He’s got a chance. He worked a little bit with us today,” Kubiak said. “He worked a little bit on Thursday and got a little sore. We pulled him off; [he] worked a little bit today with the trainers. Alan can play without practicing. He can go play special teams and stuff like that. He can possibly be ready to go. We’ll see. If not, (CB) Stanford (Routt) is here, and he’ll have an opportunity to help us out.”

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